Nail Yakupov — Has been guilty of trying to do too much on his own. Time to start distributing the puck.

Andrei Makarov — In his second season with Saskatoon Blades, knows North American shooters well.

KEYS TO THE GAME

Russia — Russia has relied too much on individual talent this tournament. Desire to win a medal on their home turf should bring them together.

Canada — Russia may feel emotionally drained after seeing its chance for gold die in a 3-2 shootout loss to Swedes. If so, Canada needs to exploit that and play with a desperation lacking in their semifinal loss to the U.S.

— The Canadian Press

Canada had most of the country's best 19-year-old players available to it this year because of the NHL lockout, with the exception of a defenceman and a forward lost to injury before the tournament.

Canada dominated the tournaments of 1995 and 2005 en route to gold when the NHL locked out their players those seasons. There were high expectations of this team that included Edmonton Oiler forward Ryan Nugent-Hopkins.

Lack of desperation

Spott said he chose his 23-player team with speed in mind, but the United States made Canada look like they were standing still for two periods Thursday.

"The start was the difference in the hockey game," Spott said following the game. "We simply didn't have the energy or the desperation that the Americans had early."

U.S. captain Jake McCabe and John Gaudreau each scored a pair of goals and Jim Vesey also scored for the Americans.

Trailing 4-0 after 40 minutes, Ty Rattie scored a short-handed goal for Canada early in the third, but Gaudreau scored his second of the game at 15:41.

Canada had beaten the U.S. 2-1 in a Pool B game on Sunday with just 11 forwards because of suspensions. A full complement of 13 should have produced more scoring chances even-strength, but didn't.

U.S. goaltender John Gibson, who plays for Spott on the Ontario Hockey League's Kitchener Rangers, made 26 saves for the win. Gibson stopped an all-alone Ryan Strome in the second period.

Canadian starter Malcolm Subban was replaced by Jordan Binnington in the second period after the U.S. had scored four goals on 16 shots. Binnington, playing in his first game since Dec. 22, made 25 saves in relief.

"It had nothing to do with Malcolm at all. We left him out to dry and the goals they scored were quality goals," Spott said. "It was more than anything trying to give our team a little bit of a shot of adrenaline."

Canada finished first in Pool B at 4-0 and earned the bye to the semifinal.

The U.S. finished third in their pool at 2-2 and defeated the Czech Republic 7-0 on Wednesday to advance to the semifinal.